“Before I met Head Start Homes, I never thought in my wildest dreams this day would happen. I love my new home, and I’m so excited that my children will now have a forever home where we can paint the walls and hang up pictures”
Charlene’s Story
Watch this short film on Charlene’s incredible journey from homelessness to home ownership, produced by electriclimefilms.
In July 2020, Charlene, our first applicant, acquired her own forever home.
Charlene is a proud Djangadi woman who is a mother of three beautiful children. Charlene's life transformed when she was motivated by the hope given by our Head Start Guarantee pathway. She began to see herself in a new light and became more confident at work.
During her home ownership journey, Charlene demonstrated tremendous growth, securing a promotion at work and increasing her savings by more than 500 percent in a short period of time. Charlene was motivated by the example she was setting for her children, and she was overjoyed that her children could go to the show and tell everyone that their mum had purchased their new home.
Stephen Woodlands (our Founder), Brooke Flint (Flint Property and HSH Director) and a small bunch of wonderful volunteers and partners were pleased to join in the celebrations on the day that Charlene got the keys to her new home.
Charlene said:
“Before I met Head Start Homes, I never thought in my wildest dreams this day would happen. I love my new home, and I’m so excited that my children will now have a forever home where we can paint the walls and hang up pictures”.
“I’m also so happy that another family who is on a waitlist and needs a safe and stable home will be able to move into the social housing home that I just moved out of”.
Stephen Woodlands Head Start Homes Founder and Managing Director said:
“It was a day we will never forget, filled with joy, tears and laughter. I’m thrilled that Charlene and her children now have their very own safe and stable home. I truly admire Charlene’s passion and devotion in making this special day happen”.
Brooke Flint (Head Start Homes Director and Property Coach) said:
“I'm so thrilled for Charlene. She has been an absolute joy to work with. I feel so honoured to be part of such an incredible organization of people and leadership.
Being able to mentor Charlene to buy her very first home with the help of Head Start Homes has been one of the highlights of my career.”
Thanks also to our wonderful volunteers and staff who have worked tirelessly to help make this major milestone happen.
A big thanks to the Aboriginal Housing Office for providing funding and Community Housing Limited, Flint Property, Ms Deeds Conveyancing and Sally from One Agency, for supporting Charlene with her home purchase.
A special thanks also to St George Bank who provided their Head Start Pledge Home Loan with best in market interest rates. This means that Charlene is currently saving more than $60 a week on her mortgage repayments compared to the rent she was paying in social housing.
Another single Aboriginal mum has now moved into Charlene's newly vacated social housing home. This mum was homeless. Having this new stable home has resulted in her being reunited with her 5 children. This mum is now receiving ongoing support services from Community Housing Limited - her community housing provider. 10 people directly benefited from Charlene's achieving her home ownership dreams.
“10 women and children directly benefited from Charlene achieving her home ownership dreams”
Charlene’s journey in the news
About Us
We enable community housing tenants to pursue their home ownership dreams, without the need for a deposit, via our Head Start Guarantee and empowerment services. Our home ownership pathway frees up much-need homes for those on housing wait-lists who are likely to be homeless.
Our holistic approach to reducing homelessness and poverty, combined with our cross-sector partnerships, makes us the missing piece in the home ownership puzzle for Australians in need.
We are a not-for-profit social enterprise with a highly experienced volunteer Board. More importantly, we are a community of people who are committed to achieving our vision: a safe and stable home for everyone with fair and practical pathways into home ownership.
Check out this video to find out the work we do to help achieve our vision. Produced by Enlightening Films, Footage from electriclimefilms.